Byron Allen Makes Offer to Buy Paramount; 'Hijack' Renewed at Apple TV+; The Hollywood Jobs At-Risk From AI; 'Genius: MLK/X' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( January 31, 2024 What's news: Universal Music Group says that it will pull its song catalog from TikTok. Keke Palmer has joined the cast of Aziz Ansari's Good Fortune. Nia Long will play Katherine Jackson in Antoine Fuqua's Michael Jackson biopic. YouTube and Google's subscriptions services now make $15b annually. U.K.'s Sky is planning to cut 1,000 jobs. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Byron Allen Makes Offer to Buy Paramount Global ►Here we go. Byron Allen has made a $14.3b offer to buy all outstanding shares of Paramount Global, according to a statement from Allen’s company. The deal would also see Allen Media Group assume Paramount’s roughly $15b debt load, valuing the shares at about a 50 percent premium to their recent trading prices. It is not clear who Allen’s strategic partners are in the offer, or if there are any contingencies. Allen’s AMG owns The Weather Channel, a number of local TV stations, The Grio, and a syndicated TV content business, among other ventures. [The story.]( —"TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music." Songs from Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Drake may be vanishing from TikTok on Wednesday. In a dramatic move, Universal Music Group says that it will pull its song catalog from TikTok Jan. 31 after failing to come to terms on a new licensing deal with the fast-growing social video platform. The music label announced the move in a blistering open letter to artists and songwriters titled “Why we must call time out on TikTok.” [The story.]( —More media layoffs. Comcast-owned Sky Group is planning to cut 1,000 jobs over the next year as the U.K. media giant transitions to internet-based TV from satellite. The majority of jobs cut will be concentrated in the company’s engineering teams, primarily impacting those who install and service the satellite products, and will result in a reduction of about 4 percent of the business. It comes as the company says more of its customers are choosing to use the company’s streaming box Sky Stream and its new line of televisions, Sky Glass. [The story.]( —Another L. In an unusual decision, a Delaware judge has voided Elon Musk's $55b pay package from the electric automaker Tesla, siding with a shareholder who sued claiming the sum was excessive. The decision throws Musk’s enormous fortune into a cloud of doubt, with the 2018 pay plan making up a significant portion of his wealth. Were it completely voided, Musk would no longer be the world’s richest man, and would fall below Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault. [The story.]( Lamorne Morris, Dylan O'Brien Join 'SNL 1975' Cast ►🎭 Four more 🎭 Lamorne Morris and Dylan O’Brien are the latest actors to sign up to play original Saturday Night Live castmembers in Jason Reitman's feature SNL 1975, about the debut night for the venerable comedy show. Morris is set to portray Garrett Morris, while O’Brien has landed the role of Dan Aykroyd. Additionally, Cory Michael Smith will play Chevy Chase in the film, while Matt Wood is joining the cast as John Belushi. Reitman is directing the film for Sony Pictures from a script he co-wrote with Gil Kenan. [The story.]( —🎭 "Keke is a delight to work with" 🎭 Seven months after Aziz Ansari‘s feature directorial debut Good Fortune shut down indefinitely amid the writers strike, the film is back on track. Ansari has added Keke Palmer to cast, which also includes Ansari, Keanu Reeves, and Seth Rogen. Ansari also wrote Good Fortune, which is being backed by Lionsgate. [The story.]( —🎭 Matriarch found 🎭 Nia Long is the latest big name to join Lionsgate's Michael Jackson biopic. The actor has signed on to portray Katherine Jackson, the matriarch of the Jackson musical family, in the Antoine Fuqua's Michael. The film stars Jaafar Jackson, who is Michael Jackson’s nephew, as the music icon. Oscar nominee Colman Domingo is starring as Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, while 9-year-old actor Juliano Krue is playing a younger version of Michael Jackson. [The story.]( —Squibb game. Magnolia Pictures has landed the North American rights to June Squibb comedy Thelma, which premiered at Sundance. A wide theatrical release is planned. Josh Margolin directed the feature that follows a 93-year-old grandmother (Squibb) who gets conned by a phone scammer and sets out on a revenge quest accompanied by an aging friend (the late Richard Roundtree, in one of his final roles) and his motorized scooter. [The story.]( ERW Still Doesn't Know 'Westworld' Ending After Cancellation ►"It keeps me up at night." Evan Rachel Wood knows about as much as fans when it comes to what Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan had up their sleeves for the final season of their hit HBO series — which is to say, she knows nothing at all. Wood spoke to THR's [Abbey White]( about the sci-fi series that ran for four seasons before being abruptly canceled in 2022 and about being left in the dark: "I think for us and the audience, it was awful in a lot of ways." [The interview.]( —"We will bring the high octane back!" Apple TV+ has ordered a second season of the thriller Hijack starring and executive produced by Idris Elba. Details on the story for season two are being kept under wraps, but Elba will reprise his role as Sam Nelson — a corporate negotiator who in the first season used his skills to bring about a resolution to the hijacking of a flight on which he was a passenger. Hijack drew solid viewership for the streamer, becoming the second series on the platform (after Ted Lasso) to earn a spot on Nielsen’s weekly top 10 streaming chart. [The story.]( —K-drama kings. Disney+ is continuing to bolster its library of Korean series by picking up the revenge drama Wonderful World. Debuting on the streamer on March 1, the show tells the story of Eun Soo-hyun, a successful female professor of psychology and writer whose life unravels after her son is murdered. Driven to despair, Soo-hyun becomes consumed by revenge. The show stars veteran actress Kim Nam-Joo and up-and-coming actor Cha Eun-woo. [The story.]( 'Vanderpump Rules' Is Back! ►Fame, feuds and the future of the hit Bravo show. THR's queen of chat [Jackie Strause]( spoke to Vanderpump Rules showrunner Alex Baskin about season eleven of the Bravo reality phenomenon. Baskin reveals how the series picked up after "Scandoval," talks cast negotiations to return, why the show won't "relitigate" what happened and says: "There have been a bunch of developments since we stopped filming." [The interview.]( —"Being able to get to book five would [be amazing]." THR's [Rick Porter]( spoke to Percy Jackson and the Olympians showrunners Jonathan Steinberg and Dan Shotz who break down the final episode of the Disney+ show. Steinberg and Shotz discuss the relationship between Percy and his mom, working with the late Lance Reddick on the finale — who’s remembered in a title card at the end of the episode — and possibilities for season two. Warning: Spoilers! [The interview.]( —The roads not taken. THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to writer-director Barnaby Clay about his first narrative feature, The Seedling. The Brit filmmaker discusses the challenges of making an indie horror, and how, after the pandemic forced him to lose his cast (and much of his budget), he retooled the project. [The interview.]( The Hollywood Jobs Most At-Risk From AI ►Do not praise the machine. Generative AI is killing jobs in Hollywood, with little relief on the horizon. A study commissioned by The Concept Art Assn. and the Animation Guild surveyed 300 leaders across the entertainment industry and the findings show that three-fourths of respondents indicated that AI tools supported the elimination, reduction or consolidation of jobs at their companies. Over the next three years, it estimates that nearly 204,000 positions will be adversely affected. [The story.]( —Blowout quarter. YouTube saw its advertising revenue soar to $9.2b in Q4 of 2023, up from just below $8b in the year prior and the quarter prior, and in line with what Wall Street was expecting. On the company’s earnings call, executives revealed that YouTube and Google subscriptions, including YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, NFL Sunday Ticket, and YouTube TV, are now a $15b business annualized. [The results.]( —Blizzard boost. Microsoft reported second-quarter earnings that were boosted in part by its acquisition of game maker Activision Blizzard. Total Xbox content and services revenue increased 61 percent year-over-year thanks to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and total gaming revenue increased 49 percent. Total revenue for More Personal Computing, the segment that includes the financials from Activision Blizzard, was $16.9b, up 19 percent. The company set all-time records for monthly active users on Xbox, PC and mobile, which now more than 200m monthly active users. [The results.]( Late Folk Icon Melanie on Her "Terrifying" Woodstock Breakout ►"It was like I was in a crazy Fellini movie — I shared my dressing room with a camel." Melanie died on Jan. 23 at age 76. In one of her final interviews, the singer-songwriter recounts to Joseph Fenity the "out-of-body" experience of singing to 500,000 festival goers at Woodstock in 1969 as a virtual unknown, and how Joan Baez came to her rescue: "I owe everything to that moment." [The interview.]( —"We’ve been in the studio, so there may be a little something in the future, too." More new *NSYNC music may be coming in the near future. While making an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Tuesday, Justin Timberlake teased that the boy band’s recent reunion for the single “Better Place” — their first song together in over two decades — for the film Trolls Band Together, may not be the only new tune to be released by the group. [The story.]( —"Red light therapy is my new best friend." Lili Reinhart has shared that she was recently diagnosed with alopecia. The Riverdale star took to TikTok on Monday to post a video of her undergoing red light therapy, although didn’t share many details about the diagnosis. Reinhart has previously been publicly open about personal battles, including mental health, depression and anxiety. [The story.]( TV Review: 'Genius: MLK/X' ►"Parallel structure yields connections, if not depth." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews National Geographic's Genius: MLK/X. Martin Luther King Jr. (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Malcolm X (Aaron Pierre) are the subjects of this biographical drama series that is a follow-up to seasons about Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin. [The review.]( In other news... —Christopher Walken [wants to know what a "teaser" is in pre-Super Bowl spot from BMW]( —Oreo [plans a Super Bowl twist with Kris Jenner ad]( —L.A. Times film critic [Justin Chang joins The New Yorker]( —Anne Hathaway movie [The Idea of You to close SXSW]( —Golden Bachelor star [Gerry Turner signs with Gersh]( —Naomi Osaka's [Hana Kuma signs with CAA]( —ComplexCon [goes global with Hong Kong event, 21 Savage to headline]( —Spiegelworld [sets July opening for disco-themed Vegas show and restaurant]( —[Melinda Ledbetter Wilson]( wife of Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson, dies at 77 —[Amanda Davies]( daughter of soap icon Erika Slezak, dies at 42 ​​​What else we're reading... —Eric Olson wonders whether the conspiratorial politics of Jason Statham's The Beekeeper are dangerous [[Daily Beast]( —Caitlin O'Kane reports that tickets to Super Bowl 2024 are the most expensive ever, with the average price hitting a whopping $12,082 on Seat Geek [[CBS News]( —With the NBA trade deadline looming, Kevin O'Connor asks whether it is time for LeBron James and the Lakers to split [[Ringer]( —Kyndall Cunningham tries to explain the bland allure of Hailey Bieber, Gen Z’s reigning beauty queen [[Vox]( —Kiera Feldman spoke to a former Boeing senior manager who has serious safety concerns about both the Max 8 and 9 planes and recommends people avoid flying on them [[LAT]( Today... ...in 2014, Focus Features released Tom Gormican's bro comedy That Awkward Moment in theaters. The film, which starred then up-and-coming stars Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, was a critical dud but a box office success. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Kerry Washington (47), Justin Timberlake (43), Kelly Lynch (65), Minnie Driver (54), Marcus Mumford (37), Jonathan Banks (77), [Dexter Fletcher]( (58), Portia de Rossi (51), Patricia Velasquez (53), Bobby Moynihan (47), Anthony LaPaglia (65), Emmett J Scanlan (45), Glynn Turman (77), Colby Minifie (32), Lily Mo Sheen (25), Paul Scheer (48), Daniela Bianchi (82), Anna Silk (50), Mallory James Mahoney (19), Matt King (56), Daniel Moder (55), Tyler Ritter (39), Anjana Vasan (37), Lee Yeong-ae (53) Chita Rivera, the sultry singer, dancer and actress who commanded the Broadway stage for more than a half-century, has died. She was 91. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. 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